Red Sox somehow keep finding a way to win

The injured third baseman is out for at least the next series. The right fielder is day-to-day.

A key pitcher, who in some eyes is still the ace, is of questionable health. And for a team that's chasing the franchise's first back-to-back titles since 1915 and 1916, this team really doesn't hit that much.

The Boston Red Sox play on. They will meet the Tampa Bay Rays, as hungry and talented as their record suggests, in the AL Championship Series, which opens Friday at Tropicana Field.

The Los Angeles Angels are going home. Early. Again.

Their season ended when Jason Bay raced home on Jed Lowrie's ninth-inning single, sending Fenway Park into a frenzy and sending the Red Sox on to the next step of journey, which they hope will end with another parade in a city that loves the modern concept of Red Sox success.

Bay just made it. Isn't that what makes this Red Sox team special?

They have just enough, but they have it almost all the time, when it counts and in so many ways. Daisuke Matsuzaka, a candidate to pitch Game 1 in Tampa Bay, has just enough to win almost all the time.

The offense scores just enough runs. The defense makes just enough big plays.

The Red Sox of past generations did not understand it. The 1970s teams had great talent, and tried to bludgeon their way to ultimate glory.

They never got there. The Red Sox of this decade have had top talent, but that is not why this team is succeeding where others did not.

"The organization, we've brought some kids up and they have done such a phenomenal job of competing," manager Terry Francona said. "I was just standing by the doorway and thinking, boy, they're young."

Names like Ellsbury, Pedroia, Masterson, Delcarmen .¤.¤. and Lowrie. They play under the most intense spotlight imaginable, and believe they can succeed.

"I thought I'd get a chance at some point this season," said Jed Lowrie, who got his chance when Julio Lugo got hurt, and wound up winning a Division Series that seemed perilously close to slipping away.

"Emotionally, it's tough, but you've got to step away from the moment and concentrate on doing your job," he said, describing how a rookie can produce with so much riding on the outcome.

"It's not easy, but you've got to do it," Lowrie said.

Not that many years ago, Beckett was a young buck, proving he could handle the intensity. Now he's a stabilizing veteran, watching this mixture of young and old players, homegrown and acquired, blend together in a way that could lead to a third title in five years.

"There is a lot of pressure at playoff time," Beckett said. "Different guys deal with it in different ways. Maybe we're just conditioned to it."